1. BLG3RNT BUILDS 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Change Log 1.3 About Stats and Items 2. Baron 2.1 Lore 2.2 Vainglory Spotlight 2.3 My Thoughts on Baron 2.4 Abilities 3. Stats & Items 3.1 Build Stats 3.2 Build Items Examined 3.3 Item Economics 3.4 Item Progression 4. Builds 4.1 Lane 4.2 Jungle 4.3 Crystal 4.4 Weapon 5. Thank You

BLGRNT BUILDS

I've been playing Vainglory casually since around 1.6 when Rona was released. I've always been a fan of VGF guides and they've helped me a lot through the game. I never felt my understanding of the game was good enough to create build guides, I just played.

I started collecting stats and compiled ways to understand the game, and what effects the builds truly have. Hopefully that will translate well to my build guides. I'm not a pro player, but I think I am pretty good with analysis, and I think my guides will contribute to other players enjoying the game further. If you've read my guides before you'll be familiar with the format. I try to keep them all similar, so enjoy!

A final note on my guides and guides in general: The author of any guide has a particular play style. I am no different. My guides reflect my play style. They won't fit everyone's style. Typically for my builds I look for different ways to build characters. There isn't a reason to repeat the same stuff over and over, but mostly I look for what works for me. So understand these guides may not reflect the typical thought process towards a character.

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Welcome to BLG3RNT BUILDS: Baron

Baron is a new character there are bound to be several nerfs upcoming. I call this the "Complete" guide, but it's currently not complete. I'm releasing this on Day 1 so as my understanding of Baron evolves so will this guide. Stay Tuned...

Added Item Progression Section
Changed Ability Build for WP

Throughout this guide I will explain what this build actually does for your stats, how the items affect your build and abilities. It is my hope that this will help you better understand how swapping items effects your character. A guide is a exactly that, a guide. You don't have to follow this to the letter. Your game play is probably different than mine.

The reality of this, however, is that it's virtually impossible to cover every variation against every opponent. If there is something specific you are having problems understanding let me know in the comments and I'll try to help you out. I will say up front, that it is completely possible that I won't be able to answer every request. That circles back around to not being able to cover every variation.

All of the stats I give here are based on the characters lvl 12 stats

I will offer stats vs particular items. Such as "This build deals x damage vs Aegis. Since I cannot account for every character and every possible statistical build I will let you know what the stats vs that item are.

I generally math well, but if you see a calculation that might be inaccurate please, please, please let me know.

In general stats are rounded off rather than ridiculously long decimal numbers.

One final note I can think of: I searched for hours looking for basic attack speeds. I could not locate anything that stated what 100% attack speed officially meant. The closest I came to an answer was that at 100% attack speed a character would attack approximately 1 time every 1.3 seconds, so that's what I ended up using for my stat analysis.

‘SIERRA KILO YANKEE ECHO‘


‘BARON’S CHOICE‘

So he's finally here. Baron, I think a much anticipated character, though initially it doesn't seem to be as exciting for players as Samuel was. It's been fairly easy for me to get Baron in matches so far, as where with Samuel it was very common on day 1 to have all three players try to select Samuel. I was excited for Baron. I felt a little let down to be honest. Not because he's a poor character, but he (thus far) doesn't seem to be the dominating force they made him appear to be.

The gameplay mechanics are great, and hearing explosions on the battlefield is awesome after being so used to gunfire or lasers, Baron's sound effects have a real impact on the experience. Once again SEMC has changed the landscape of VG gameplay. Never before have you been able to join a team fight in the lane simply by leaping over the Kraken pit. Also off the top of my head I can't think of characters where you can cast one ability while still in the animation of another ability, as where with Baron you have the ability to cast either A or C while still in flight from B. Actually I guess Skye is similar in that you can cast Death From Above while still firing Forward Barrage.

So what do we get from Baron?
9th best health
2nd best energy (tied with Lyra)
Horrible WP - only SAW, Reim, Lyra, and Celeste have worse and I don't count the last two.
Below average Atk Spd
More or less the same 86 rating on armor and shield that everyone has.
5th best range, but with crystal perks he has the best range if that's your build.
And the slowest character in the game, that honor no longer belongs to Phinn.

Kind of underwhelming for a siege machine.

I am happy to report that the WP and CP paths lead to a very different experience. This isn't the first character they've given separate paths with very different effects, Kestrel comes quickly to mind. But with some of those characters it feels like (for me anyways) you're essentially building the same character just with blue instead of red. Baron provides you with a very different experience depending on the path you choose, and I'll touch more on this later.

The Bad
His auto attack is so slow that at times it feels like your a roam character simply partaking in a slap fest, and if you go the CP build it truly is a slap fest. When you are in lane you almost have to stand there and wait for your minions to burst down the enemy minions and then time the last hit. Good luck with that. The bright health of the minions (indicating your basic attack will finish them off) has been rendered useless because if you wait until you see the bright red (this is especially true on the smaller minions) it's too late. His attack takes so long to wind up and fire your lane minions kill them before you can. So you have to time it until just before the bright red arrives. Mistime it and you've lost the kill. Put this in perspective, his attack speed is only slightly higher than SAW without spin up, and Baron doesn't have a spin up to use.

Another downside is that Baron is almost exclusively skill shot. You have to guess your opponents next move. His Porcupine Mortar is just about as slow as Baron is, as if you walked over and handed them the mortar shell. When play against other Barons it's been no problem in 1 v 1 match ups to simply walk away from the effected area. So if you aren't good with a character such as Reim where you have to cast Winter Spire & Valkyrie where they will be, not where they are at, you will probably struggle with Baron

The Good
I truly enjoy playing Baron. Well, after the initial frustration and learning curve. Truth be told, when I originally wrote this section after a half day of playing him or so, I was cursing about almost every aspect to Baron. Luckily the implementation of Baron here on VGF has been slower than normal and thus I had more time to play him and time to revisit my thoughts.

In ways Baron feels like Skye which isn't surprising, but a more focused version of Skye. Baron's strength lies in the fact that every method you have of dealing damage is an AoE, so while every shot is a skill shot, you don't have to be precise in your skill. If you go hunting with a riffle you have to hit the deer in the right place to put it down. If you go hunting with a bazooka you just have to be in the general vicinity.

I think it may take some time for your average player to adjust, especially in the lane. This statement goes for both sides. As I mentioned earlier it can be a bit difficult at first to learn how to get your last hits in the lane with Baron, eventually you can pick it up. Stutter stepping can help, but only so much, he's just slow. It will take your opponents time to adjust to the fact that they now have to think about their positioning in regards to Baron's splash damage. Although, not as effective, the splash damage works similarly to Vox in that you can be attacking a minion nearby, yet still causing damage to your opponent if they are close enough.

So who is Baron for? It is my opinion that Baron will be a good character for those who are used to being conscious of positioning like Celeste or Adagio. If you get caught when playing Baron you likely will be waiting for a respawn, this is especially true if you don't have Jump Jets available.

Who is Baron not for? In my opinion if you are a Ringo or SAW type laner in that you rely on attack speed matched with huge damage bursts, you probably won't like Baron. He won't have the pinpoint accuracy and speeds that you enjoy.

I give Baron a *glory* rating, meaning that the average player is probably better served waiting to buy him with glory instead of ICE.

On with the guide.

Rocket Launcher Slot: Heroic Perk Baron's basic attacks explode, dealing 125% weapon power to the target. Explosions deal 90% weapon power damage to surrounding enemies. Explosions deal reduced damage to minions.

Okay so this perk is great if you play WP Baron pointless if you play CP. The only aspect of it that's universal is the splash damage.

Porcupine Mortar Slot: A Baron launches artillery toward the target location, heavily damaging enemies on impact. This ability has 2 charges. Enemies are also slowed by 10% (+10% weapon power), decaying over 2.2s. This slow is further increased with weapon power up to a cap of 30% with 200 weapon power. The range of this ability increases with crystal power up to a cap of 11 meters with 200 crystal power. Baron can fire this while using Jump Jets. Deals reduced damage to minions.

If you travel down the CP path this is going to be your main method of damage. With the WP path your auto attack needs to be your main source of damage output. You will still use this ability quite often no matter what your build is, but it's not quite as powerful with WP, your power is with your Rocket Launcher when playing WP. It is also how you will control and manipulate the lane. You decide where you want the lane opponent to go. It's a zoning ability which has become a common theme with recent character releases.

If you want the full cap of slow you need 200 WP. Baron at level 1 has 71 weapon power so a single Sorrowblade gets you that perk. At level 12 he has 108 so any combination of two of the following will also trigger the full perk: Breaking Point, Tyrant's Monocle, and Serpent Mask. Finally Serpent Mask combined with either of those will trigger the full perk at level 1 (not that you could actually complete 2 T3 items by level one.

If you want the full range cap of up to 11 meters you'll need 200 crystal. There are multiple combinations that will get you to this number. If you combine Clockwork, Shatterglass, and any other crystal item (not just T3 items) you will breach the 200 barrier. Combine Clockwork with any combination that equals at least 155 CP and Clockwork's passive will put you beyond 200.

Jump Jets Slot: B After a brief delay, Baron jets to the location then gains bonus move speed for 2.1s. His next basic attack is a double shot. Overdrive: At max rank, Baron ignores all effects while leaping. Baron takes longer to power up the farther away he is from his destination. However, this delay is reduced by weapon and crystal power up to a maximum of 200 total. Basic attacks reduce this ability's cooldown by 10%.

If you build WP you can use this ability nearly like a Suri Strike without the need for lock on.
If you build CP it will probably take you some practice to learn when you need to trigger it. Two pointers. First, if you need a quick escape jump over a wall, but don't jump any further than you need to. The further away you jump the longer the power up time, so use distance sparingly. Second, if you are ambushed, you aren't going to win the fight. Baron's strength is from a distance. You'll lose close up with just about anyone. So as soon as you identify that you are in trouble, trigger it. It's very easy to re-engage with your range. If you are playing against Ardan you may want to consider taking the overdrive on this ability instead of Ion Cannon (I'm still not clear as to what negative effects his overdrive ignores besides Ardan's Gauntlet).

Ion Cannon Slot: C Baron targets a location anywhere on the map for an orbital strike, obliterating the area after a 3s delay. This deals full damage to enemies near the center, falling off to 65% damage at the edges. Although Baron and his allies see the designated location immediately, enemies only become aware of it 0.9s before impact. Passive: Each rank of this ability permanently increases Baron's basic-attac range. Deals reduced damage to minions.

This is an unnerving ability for opponents. Doesn't matter where you or they are, they can hear you trigger it. Using this ability is largely instinctual. If you aren't good at anticipating your opponent's movements this will be a very difficult ability for you to land. I'll give you two tips for landing this ability. First, if you are being pursued by a melee character, trigger it and engage in the location you targeted. They will likely stop and fight you. The problem with this tactic is that you have a very good chance of ending up dead. Second, when a team fight breaks out, likely with your teammates since you shouldn't be brawling, Jump Jets across the fight, and trigger Ion Cannon targeting the center of the fight while you are in flight. Chances are they won't hear the sound effect because their character will be making lots of noise from the fight, and they are very unlikely to notice the animation indicator from your back showing that you fired it. Plus they will likely assuming you are jumping in to engage, or fleeing.

Here are the lvl 12 stats for these builds.

CP Build Basic attack with Rocket Launcher perk 108 Health 2122 (450) Energy 1265 (500) Crystal Power 256 Weapon Power 108 (0) Cooldown 40% Energy Regen 10 Health Regen 0 Atk Spd 122 (0) Armor 286 (200) Shield 246 (160) Range 5.4 (0) Move Speed 3.2 (0.6) Crystal Lifesteal 10 Weapon Lifesteal 0 Shield Pierce 0% Armor Pierce 0 Crit Chance 0 Crit Dmg 0 Sprint 2

WP Siege Basic attack with Rocket Launcher perk 316 Health 2322 (650) Energy 765 (0) Crystal Power 0 Weapon Power 243 (135) Cooldown 30% Energy Regen 4 Health Regen 0 Atk Spd 157 (35) Armor 286 (200) Shield 246 (160) Range 5.4 (0) Move Speed 3.2 (0.6) Crystal Lifesteal 0 Weapon Lifesteal 10% Shield Pierce 0% Armor Pierce 0 Crit Chance 0 Crit Dmg 0 Sprint 2

WP Burst Basic attack with Rocket Launcher perk 264 Health 2322 (650) Energy 765 (0) Crystal Power 0 Weapon Power 203 (95) Cooldown 30% Energy Regen 4 Health Regen 0 Atk Spd 157 (35) Armor 286 (200) Shield 246 (160) Range 5.4 (0) Move Speed 3.2 (0.6) Crystal Lifesteal 0 Weapon Lifesteal 0 Shield Pierce 0 Armor Pierce 0 Crit Chance 0 Crit Dmg 0 Sprint 2

Crystal Bit/ Weapon Blade: This is your starting depending on which path you're taking. In my opinion you need to avoid the recommended item Energy Battery. Pick it up on your first shop visit if you're going crystal. If all you are sporting is Energy Battery then your Porcupine Mortar might as well be called water balloon.
Eve of Harvest/ Serpent Mask With the damage output of Baron these items synergize very well.
Breaking Point If you are going down the wp path this item is a must have. Breaking Point is Baron's best friend.
Shatterglass: This item is straight forward 150 CP. It's the easiest way to get your full perks on a CP path, plus it's just power, so is Baron
Journey Boots He's the slowest character in the game. Boots are a must have. In fact you should prioritize T2 boots over most other items.
Clockwork This item is a must for just about any CP build character. The (recently bumped) 30% CP multiplier can be massive. So much so that with Clockwork you only need to build 155 CP in order to reach the 200 to max out your ability perks. For Baron the energy is very important.
Stormcrown Ok, it's truly time to stop thinking of this as a roam only item. Just stop. If you are building WP you could toss in a Clockwork, but that doesn't compliment anything else in your build. Understand that while Clockwork is the best cooldown item, it's true strength is really it's passive, which increases all CP by 30%. It does diddly to WP. So. Stormcrown gives you 30% cooldown, and grants you energy recharge. It's a decent substitute in a WP build for clockwork. But here's the beauty of Stormcrown. At level 12 it grants you 32 true damage to heroes. I know what you're thinking. 32? Big whoop. Actually it is a big whoop. We know that Sorrowblade is the king of all WP. Serpent Mask is the second most powerful in terms of increasing your WP stat. Did you know... that against a Metal Jacket Serpent Mask only deals 31 damage? So you get similar benefits as Clockwork regarding cooldown and energy regen, plus you get the damage output of a Serpent Mask.

When you are building your items, what is the best approach to building them? We often talk about rushing items, but is that the best way to do it? Let's take a look.

Let's say the first two items we are going to build are Shatterglass & Broken Myth.

To get there we know we have to build:

4 Crystal Bits
2 Heavy Prisms
1 Eclipse Prism
1 Piercing Shard

Before finally reaching our goal. For this example let's say we start the game with a Crystal Bit and 2 Halcyon Potions, as we want to keep one item slot always open for our Halcyon Potions, so we will be left with 4 item slots.

On your first trip back to the shop you've amassed 1400 gold, which would be enough to purchase a Heavy Prism (750 by upgrading the Crystal Bit), and a Eclipse Prism (650). That's a total of 85 CP.

On the other hand we could purchase 3 more Crystal Bits for 900 gold since we know we need a total of 4 for the Shatterglass & Broken Myth we are building towards. Then we could also upgrade 1 of those Crystal Bits to an Eclipse Prism for an additional 350. Putting our total cost at 1250. In this case we'd have a total of 95 CP for 150 less gold.

This still leaves you with 1 item slot open, which you could soon place Sprint Boots in or whatever other item you like to get in the early game.

In Vainglory the lower tier items often offer more bang for your buck, so to speak. Obviously eventually we have to upgrade because we have limited item slots. If you know your build well, and plan it out, sometimes building towards 2 items by stocking lower tier items first makes you more powerful early game, instead of rushing and pouring all of your resources into rushing that Shatterglass. Also keep in mind, that in this particular scenario the Shatterglass, which we are building towards first, has no special passive that benefits us if we get there sooner, it's pure CP. Take this into account with your build when deciding if you want to rush an item or stockpile smaller items first.

I'm often asked for a more in depth look at the build. What to prioritize, and what order to buy things. You may have noticed many guides that include stages in their item builds, such as "1st shop visit" or "mid game" or "by 10 minutes", etc. I do not. The reason for this is I play with the flow of the game. When I find a good time to shop I shop, what gold I have to spend at that time I typically spend. I always try to come away from the shop or respawn stronger than I entered. That being said I can understand the desire to understand the thought process behind someone's build, how and when they build what. So upon request I'm including this section to explain how I purchase to the best of my ability. Use it as a guide, adapt to your situation.

I include the above section in every guide I publish for a reason. To help people understand that you can get stronger faster buy purchasing several T1 items first. That's the approach I take to start the game, soon after you run out of slots and thus you can't always use that strategy.

For priority of the build I prioritize items in the order of the recommended build. That doesn't mean that I wait to build one before the other. That also doesn't mean that I wait to purchase any components of until that items turn.

My buying strategy is vastly different when I lane than when I jungle. As a jungle I have far easier and more repetitious access to the jungle shop since I can engage minions as I choose, and typically I have down time from the other opponents while they are farming in their jungle. In the following example I will demonstrate my typical lane buying strategy and order, you should be able to take away from it a strategy for jungle, just knowing that you'll probably purchase in far more frequent increments.

For this example I'll use my CP Baron build as the example, but understand that I am pretty consistent regardless of the build, in the way I purchase items, it's simply a matter of what items I am purchasing.

I'd also like to say I try to avoid returning to base ever. If I'm low on health I'll use a Halcyon Potion or if it's available and my team will allow, I'll sneak down and take the front heal camp (meaning the one nearest the Kraken). If I have to return to base to heal I will, but it's much further from base to the center lane turret than it is from the jungle shop. I try to synchronize my shop visit with my jungle rotation so that I have protection when going to the shop. However that doesn't always happen.

Obviously starting the game I have Crystal Bit and 2 halcyon potions. I generally try to keep 2-4 potions in stock during the game, so when I visit the shop just understand I always add potions if possible.

My first shop visit will be somewhere between 900 & 1200 gold. I try to hold off for 1200 but if it feels right earlier that's when I'll go. Part of this decision is made by how well I'm pushing the enemy laner. If I've pushed them back to their turret I rarely try to secure a kill or attack the turret, simply because that early in the game I've no chance of taking down a turret, and I'm far more likely to be ganked when the enemy jungle sees their lane pushed back to the turret.

On shop visit 1 I attempt to walk away with the following in addition to what I already have: Energy Battery Sprint Boots 2x Crystal Bit. Four 300 gold items, which is why I try to hold off for the 1200 mark. If I don't have enough, that is the order I prioritize my purchases.

Shop visit 2 happens sometime after 700 gold, though 1100 is my aim: On this visit I'll buy Travel Boots (you have to realize that with Baron you need to prioritize boots at least T2 boots), and if I have enough I'll also purchase Void Battery, hence the 1100.

Somewhere around this time, depending on the course of the match, I'll pick up either Light Armor or Light Shield. I make this decision based on which opponent I consider the biggest threat, and what they are building. (note: Often this is the enemy laner, but if I'm pushing them around comfortably, and I'm more fearful of their jungle - perhaps a Taka or Koshka then I'll build in prep for the inevitable gank attempt). Some time this purchase happens during shop stop 1 in place of a Crystal Bit if the opposing team has showed an early aggression towards me in the lane.

The first item I complete is Eve of Harvest. Depending on the flow of the game this could happen in two steps, or one step. Really depends on whether I'm ahead or behind. If all is going well and I'm ahead then I can wait, but if I'm falling behind I need to go upgrade one of my Crystal Bits into a Heavy Prism.

I then shift my focus to the Shatterglass build path, upgrading the remaining Crystal Bits as I go.

Depending on the momentum of the game I may upgrade my defensive item to a T2 item, but if I feel we are in control and they are struggling to threaten me then I'll focus purely on achieving that Shatterglass.

The third item I complete is Journey Boots, straight forward enough. Typically I leave T3 boots as the last item I upgrade, except when I'm a Roam, but with Baron boots are a priority.

After the first 3 items are completed it's more a feel of momentum for me than anything. At this point I have 1 slot open. My other slots are filled Eve of Harvest, Shatterglass, Journey Boots, defensive item, potions slot. I don't want to give up my potion slot unless it's necessary or everything else is completed. So at this point it's time to decide. If you are ahead you should start building Clockwork, if you are behind you should pick up either shield or armor, the opposite of what you've already started building. Unless you are just getting throttled you should probably be okay with T2 defensive items until there's nothing left to build.

When it's time to build Clockwork, either because you've decided to continue pushing towards power, or because you've purchased enough armor & shield to be comfortable, I typically choose the battery path instead of the Hourglass path. In this build I am building Clockwork for the energy and the CP amp, the cooldown is nothing more than an added benefit. I spam the hell out of Porcupine Mortar so the more energy I can have the better.

This is my typical build path and strategy. I hope this helps you understand how I build my items and how they are prioritized. Again, remember I prioritize them in the order I put above in the item builds. However the flow of the game can change priorities.

I find lane Baron difficult to be efficient with. He is unlike anything we are currently used to from lane characters. He fires obnoxiously slow, and that coupled with the AoE damage he does makes it very difficult to pinpoint the last hits. You have to exercise patience when getting your last hits. It's also very important to learn how to use your splash damage from Rocket Launcher and your Porcupine Mortar appropriately. The plus side is that it's fairly easy to clear waves of minions with Baron.

Keep your enemies retreating with Porcupine Mortar, and use your Jump Jets similar to Skye's Suri Strike, but only when you have your enemy within kill range. You need Jump Jets for escape, and you don't have the mobility of Skye to retreat. Don't forget to target you lane opponent with the perk from Jump Jets

In the jungle has great clear capabilities when there are no competing minions stealing your kills. The lack of speed in his attack means you'll need a truly good roam player to keep from stealing your kills so you can build that CS. He can be quite energy hungry so be careful of spamming his abilities too much. When following my build he truly comes into his own in the jungle once you have built Stormcrown, not only does he benefit from the added true damage, but he benefits greatly from the energy regen as well. One thing I will point out about jungling with him is that you will have more success and efficiency if you use Porcupine Mortar prior to your auto attack. If you Porcupine Mortar and immediately auto attack they will arrive at the same time. If you auto attack first then you have to aim well at a moving minion with the Porcupine Mortar or you'll miss.

You truly walk different paths with Baron depending on which build you choose. Crystal gives Baron more range, which is key in the lane, especially for the "oh look I was just passed by a snail." speed of Baron.

With the crystal path, however, your Jump Jets will feel a lot like Adagio's Verse of Judgement so you'll need to practice the timing, and when to use it. With CP Baron you'll want to use Jump Jets primarily as an engage or position change maneuver. It's not a great escape ability with the CP path because it's slow, but obviously you can use it that way. With CP Baron Jump Jets will allow to you even jump across the Kraken pit. I had a pretty awesome Karken steal with that technique, unfortunately I wasn't recording it.

I prefer CP Baron in the lane.

WP Baron starts to feel a little more like a true war machine. The catch to WP Baron is you have to fight the urge to span his abilities like Porcupine Mortar because your damage is going to come from your Rocket Launcher. You will (well at least I did) find yourself getting caught up in attacking with your abilities because your Rocket Launcher fires so slowly. You've got to use it or you'll be hurting. Your abilities aren't nearly as powerful with WP.

Jump Jets won't go nearly as far with the WP path, in fact I don't think you can jump across the Kraken pit with the WP build, you just don't get the range. What you do get with WP Baron is a near instant trigger on your Jump Jets making it very akin to Suri Strike so long as you remember to trigger Porcupine Mortar as you jump and use your Jump Jets perk when you land. That being said, firing Porcupine Mortar while using Jump Jets takes far more skill and reflex when using WP Baron because the jump happens instantly, as where with CP Baron you have more time to trigger and aim the Porcupine Mortar due to the length of the power up.

I prefer WP Burst or WP Siege Baron in the jungle.

Thank you for reading my Baron build guide. If you enjoyed it, please consider giving it an up vote. If you are familiar with my other guides then you know you can expect more content to be added to this guide. Stay tuned.

I hope this build guide has helped you better understand Baron, and I hope I don't have to face you when you're using this build. I genuinely would love any feedback you might have for my build. If you have any questions on this build, the stats and calculations, or would like me to run through any scenarios leave a comment and let me know. I will do my best to answer as many as I can, though as I said earlier I can't handle every single scenario this amazing game can produce.

~BLG3RNT